That Great Big Fishbowl in the Sky
by Sofa King Stupid
Summary: There’s no reason to be sad. You’ll see him again someday.
1. Prologue

**Title:** That Great Big Fishbowl in the Sky

**Chapter:** Prologue

**Word Count: **151

*cough* It's a new year… And one of my resolutions was to finish a chapter story. YNK may or may not be abandoned, sorry to anyone waiting for it. I lost inspiration for it.

So, starting a new project. This is, as far as I can tell, a new thing for the Life with Derek fandom. So far I really like writing it, so we'll see how it goes. It won't focus on romance, though there will be some eventually. Slash, of course.

Now, I give you, TGBFITS. :)

**Disclaimer: **Life With Derek belongs to people other than me.

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_She looked up at him, eyes full to the brim with tears. "Smerek? …What happened to Mr. Fishie?"_

_Derek winced and picked her up, cradling the four year old against his chest and wondering why bad things always had to happen on his watch._

"_Well, Smarti… Mr. Fishie's done all he can on Earth. But he got a promotion, you see, so he had to move. To… the Great Big Fishbowl in the Sky. He's really happy there, and he has a Mrs. Fishie and lots of Fishie Juniors to boss around. And he misses you, and it's okay for you to miss him, but he wants you to remember all the good times with him. There's no reason to be sad. You'll see him again someday."_

_Marti buried her face in his neck, the cool tears dripping down and dampening his shirt. "You promise?" Derek smiled into her hair._

"_Promise."_


	2. Just Another Day

**Title:** That Great Big Fishbowl in the Sky

**Chapter:** 1. Just Another Day

**Word Count: **1134

Tadaa! There probably won't be a set updating schedule, but you can expect chapter two within a few days. Until then, here's Just Another Day.

**Disclaimer: **Life With Derek belongs to people other than me.

**--------------------------------------------------------**

Derek opened his eyes and saw eternity.

It stretched on forever, curling around and up and everywhere, both the most frightening and beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Stars, a disproportionate amount, more than he'd ever imagined, littered the heavens, painting it with long sweeping spirals of white, bizarrely organized in their chaos.

Through the billions one caught his eye. It was a particularly gimpy star of a sickly yellow color, but it struck something in him. Slowly he reached out a hand to it, surprised when even the small movement was unreasonably exhausting.

Time slowed, shifted, then whatever solid surface he'd been standing on vanished out from underneath him.

_Gravity is the bane of my existence,_ Derek thought absently. He fell.

--

"Welcome to Grand Central Station!" A voice, one part feminine two parts androgynous, boomed around him. Derek turned over with a moan and hit his knees on the wall. He opened his eyes and squinted through the haze left by sleep. No. A… bench?

A really cheaply made metal bench. With an unfortunately narrow seat. He glared at it. "Welcome to Grand Central Station!" The voice boomed again.

Derek glared some more and rolled back over, then sat up. A woman in a large white dress sat on the ground next to him, staring forlornly at a plastic bag that sat crumpled in her lap. "It's so beautiful." She said dreamily to no one in particular.

Derek eyed her warily. "Welcome to Grand Central Station!" This time the voice sounded vaguely annoyed. On a whim he decided to ignore it. Yeah. That sounded like fun.

His hand went to his pocket- yep, wallet still there. But no phone? Ah, well, he'd worry about it later.

He paused. Wait, what? His phone was missing and he didn't care? More importantly… he just woke up on a bench in New York and he didn't care?

Derek pinched himself on the arm. Ow. What was that supposed to accomplish? He wasn't sure, but nothing seemed different. Maybe he didn't do it right. He pinched himself again. "Ow."

He scowled, then glanced up just in time to see a plump woman at a desk lean into a microphone and boom, "Welcome to Grand Central Station!"

The teen pointed at her. "Hey! Mind shutting up? I'm trying to have a breakdown, and you're interrupting me."

They were too far apart for him to see her face, but he thought he could safely assume that she was scowling at him. She leaned forward. "You don't look like you're having a breakdown."

"I didn't say I was. I said I was trying to, but I can't possibly get all frantic with you sitting there talking. Take it somewhere else, would you?"

"I would gladly leave, but I can't. Who do you think I'm talking to, genius?"

Derek surveyed the room. It was probably big enough to fit his school in without a problem, but completely and utterly empty from wall to wall. Except for the desk and the bench, each with their respective person. Slightly downcast, he turned back to the one at the desk and shrugged. "You could have been talking to Ricky."

"…What? You and I are the only ones in here." She told him.

Derek turned back to the woman with the bag. She looked up and smiled distantly at him. Back to the receptionist. He scratched his arm. After a moment she leaned forward. "Welcome to Grand Central Station!"

Derek twitched. "Alright, whatever, lady. Can-- ugh. Can you just tell me what I'm doing in the US? You have to know, or you wouldn't be so… smug."

He heard her gasp, then she went back to the microphone. "I can't believe this. You're Canadian! They can't have infected you too!" She boomed furiously. "It's those damn Yanks. They're plagiarizing little cretins! As if they thought up the Grand Central Station. They stole it, alright? Stole it!"

Derek and the bride- he was fairly certain that was a wedding dress she was wearing- recoiled in unison. The receptionist turned off the microphone, took a deep breath, and turned it back on. "I apologize. That's just a bit of a sensitive subject. Now, if you'll come here, I'll be able to explain more fully."

He considered for a moment. "No. I think I'll stay here."

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. "Anyway. You are in Grand Central Station, Limbo Terminal 643. You've been withheld from entering Ibaea because, for whatever reason, the last three days of your memories are missing from the records. And without all of your memories, well, we can't be expected to judge your morality, can we? I mean, you may have been a perfect boy most of your life, but if in the short time that we don't know of, you killed someone? Well, the ratings would be terribly skewed. All sorts of bad things would happen- we'd definitely be facing a lawsuit."

Derek blinked. "Wait," he interrupted slowly, "What are you talking about? I didn't catch anything after 'station.'"

The woman seemed confused. "Well, dear, don't you remember? You've, well, you've died." A split second later she gasped, covering her mouth in horror. "Oh! Oh, oh god. I'm sorry! Of course you wouldn't remember, you're missing three days worth of memory! Oh dear. I'm so sorry. I'm a temp, I've never done this before. I forgot that you'd-- oh! How inconsiderate of me! I'm sorry! I can't believe I said that!"

Derek sat down heavily on the bench and buried his face in his hands. "Shut up." He muttered through them. Somehow the receptionist heard, ceasing her ramblings with one last, whispered "I'm sorry."

He took a few deep breaths and tried to think. She was obviously a nut job, harping about him being… you know. But for some reason he believed her, even if it did mean that he was… you know.

He was being unnaturally mellow about all of this. Who knows why, just hold onto that. Whatever you do, don't lose control. This was too much- far too much- for him to handle, but he was doing it anyway so props and keep at it, and hopefully soon this would all be over.

Feeling more confident, he raised his head to look at the woman who had just shattered everything he'd ever known. "What's going to happen to me?" He asked, and then tried desperately to ignore the way his voice had cracked.

The woman looked sincerely apologetic. "I'm not sure. The council will do it's best to sort things out, but they are very busy. It may…" She trailed off, wringing her hands. "It may be a long while until they can help you." She told him honestly.

Derek's head went back into his hands. _Of course._


End file.
